How to quickly fix Easy Anti-Cheat’s Error Code 20006

In games like Fortnite, Far Cry 5, For Honor, Rust and anything else that runs Easy Anti-Cheat, it’s possible to get an Error Code 20006. This error is extremely annoying and the result is not being able to play the game you want to. Not without doing what we’re about to walk you through, that is.

The full error will read as “Error Code: 20006 (Cannot create service (StartService failed: 1058)).” Or at the very least something similar to that.

Luckily, it’s not an insanely difficult problem to fix and should only take a few minutes at most.

Note, this will not work if you’ve been banned for cheating. It’s a fix for those who are running into Error 20006 with the EAC program itself.

Fixing Error Code 20006

First, make sure that Easy Anti-Cheat is not being blocked by your anti-virus/firewall.

Not blocked? Okay, let’s keep going.

The next step is reinstalling/repairing Easy Anti-Cheat. It might be that the current install is corrupted for the one game you want and a quick repair will fix the problem. Wouldn’t that be nice?

You can choose to repair/reinstall EAC from 1 of 2 locations. Either from EasyAntiCheat folder found within your game’s install folder; or from the EasyAntiCheat folder in Program Files (likely C:\Program Files (x86)\EasyAntiCheat). Once you’ve located the folder all you have to do is run the EAC install executable and choose “Repair” in the new window that pops up.

Here’s a good walkthrough on how you can reinstall or repair Easy Anti-Cheat:

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In the video he uses Fortnite as an example, but the same method will work with any of the 70+ games that run EAC.

Hopefully, that works and gets you gaming. If it doesn’t, you might want to try temporarily turning off your antivirus and trying the reinstall again, or reboot your PC; or try both.

If you’re met with yet another error upon trying to reinstall or repair (likely “Createservice failed with 1072”?) then we have more work to do! On to the next step!

Reinstalling/repairing didn’t work

If none of the above worked, chances are, EAC has been disabled. Why? I haven’t quite figured that part out yet. But, the simple solution is to just turn it back on. However, doing that isn’t easy (or possible) unless you know where to find the right setting.

To turn EAC back on:

Open “Services” – Open the Start menu and type “Services” on Windows 10

Find “EasyAntiCheat” within Services then right-click it and select “Properties”

In the Properties window, find “Startup type” and change it from “Disabled” to “Automatic”

Click “Apply” and close both the Properties and Services windows.

Launch your game

Following those steps should hopefully get you back to gaming within no time. However, if it happened once it will likely happen again the next time you restart your PC. Keep that in mind.

But… If you ran into a problem around Step 3 where you got an error that said something about EAC being “scheduled for deletion” then you’re going to have to do one more step…

That step is either removing or editing a “DeleteFlag” that you’ll find within the EAC registry folder.

To remove the DeleteFlag:

Open Regedit – Open the Start menu and type “Regedit” on Windows 10

Navigate to “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EasyAntiCheat”

Right click “DeleteFlag” and select “Modify, then change the “1” to a “0”

Restart your PC (I honestly don’t know if this is entirely required but it’s a good idea after a registry edit regardless)

Attempt to turn EAC back on again (previous set of steps)

If EAC turns on without a hitch, boot your game!

Now, with any luck, you should be able to turn EAC back on and boot your game without an issue.

Conclusion

I hope this was able to help you fix Easy Anti-Cheat’s Error Code 20006. Whether you’re playing Fortnite, Squad, or For Honor, this is a seriously annoying problem to run into and can be even more painful to solve… Without the proper help, that is!

If none of the steps listed above worked for you, get in touch with EAC’s support directly and they will be able to help you further.

If you have your own potential fix that you feel could help people out, feel free to post it in the comments!

How to quickly fix Easy Anti-Cheat’s Error Code 20006 was last modified: August 1st, 2018 by Branton

About the Author

Branton

Hey there! I'm Branton, the founder and lead editor here at PC Game Haven. Since our launch in 2015, we've helped thousands upon thousands of gamers build their dream desktops, find the perfect peripherals, and more. Thanks for stopping by!

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